Texas legislators push aid to middle schoolers

Published 5:30 am, Tuesday, September 7, 2010

AUSTIN — Texas Sen. Florence Shapiro was stunned a few years ago when state auditors answered her request with a white surrender flag: They could not tell her which programs designed to help struggling, low-income students worked and which didn't.

Billions of dollars flow into programs designed to boost poor students and to keep them in school. But there are too many variables to measure their impact.

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One of her favorite lines: "Students drop out in the sixth grade and walk out in the ninth grade."

The focus will be on reading, writing and math, plus absenteeism and behavior for struggling sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students. She's still working out the details to draft the bill.

Experts have warned that the state's rapidly changing demographics require a more concentrated effort on boosting education levels. The current trend - if not changed - points to a grim future with three out of every 10 Texas workers not having even a high school diploma by 2040, said demographer Steve Murdock.

"All of us know that Texas is changing, but we just don't think about it as much," Shapiro said. "We don't think in terms of what the next 25 years is going to look like because we are looking for the next week and the next month and the next year."

The state's future likely hinges on the education of these low-income students, who now account for virtually all of the growth in Texas public school enrollment. Those students are the most likely to drop out. Every Texas high school graduating class has at least 100,000 fewer students than the number who entered as ninth-graders.

"It doesn't take a mental giant to look at the scores and to say here's where our children are lacking and where we need to beef up," Shapiro said. "It is in dropouts and it is in low socioeconomics, and it is in English language learners."

67 percent minority

Last year, minority children made up nearly 67 percent of the pre-K through 12th-grade public school enrollment in Texas. Nearly 59 percent of the state's 4.8 million students came from low-income families.

Texas collects enough data on students to help identify middle school students who need special attention, Shapiro said.

Not ready for college

Only 29 percent of Texas eighth-grade students were on track last year to be considered college-ready in the 11th grade, Shapiro said, citing a 2009 report by Ed Fuller, an education consultant and special research associate at the University of Texas-Austin. The report was commissioned by the Texas Business & Education Coalition.

Because of the state's budget problems, she plans to limit the approach to a certain number of schools and test the results of intensive personal attention on the school basics, plus attendance and behavior for struggling students. She also wants to make sure the test schools have teachers with content knowledge for their particular grade level.

Van de Putte champions the proposed focus on middle school students but cautions the plan is not a magic bullet — noting that English and math academies have not solved school problems. Neither has teacher preparation nor teacher performance pay, she said.

"We can't say this is the cure," Van de Putte said. "Middle school is more of an inoculation policy. We're protecting these students against the threat and against the disease of non-completion."

'In their corner'

Poverty can be an indicator of low student performance but it is not a total predictor, Van de Putte said, because parents who are involved in their children's education will trump poverty.

But she considers middle school children particularly vulnerable.

"Who tells them, 'You are worth something; you are smart; you can do this; you have such great skills; you are a good person. Let me show you how to study.' You just need somebody in their corner," Van de Putte said.

Shapiro still wants to know which programs aimed at low-income students work and which don't. Those demonstrating success should get more funding and bad programs should be canceled, she said.

The auditor's report a few years ago influenced Shapiro to attach a special instruction on a state budget. Any new education program now has four years to prove its value.